WA land fifth at country champs

Both the WA Country women’s and men’s teams finished in fifth place at the Australian Country Hockey Championships which wrapped up in Shepparton, Victoria on Sunday.

The Lower Great Southern Hockey Association had six representatives attend the annual carnival: Charlotte Edwards, Cate McDonald, Bonnie Crook, Laura Archer, Heath Cremasco, and Georgie Powis.

Powis was the manager of the women’s team who finished fifth after they drew with South Australia 2-2 in their classification game last Saturday.

McDonald and Archer started on the field in that game while Edwards came on in the sixth minute and Crook was used as the goalkeeper in the second half.

WA were thrashed 8-0 and 6-0 by NSW and Queensland respectively to start the tournament but fighting back for a 1-1 draw with South Australia and then beat the Australian Defence Force 1-0.

However, a 4-0 loss to Victoria left WA playing off for fifth and sixth place in the end.

McDonald was used as a starting player in four of the six games and impressed along with fellow youngster Charlotte Edwards who also started in four games.

Archer become a key part of the WA side as the tournament went on and Crook shared the goalie duties, with a substitution usually made at half-time.

The WA men’s team won their classification game against South Australia 2-1 on Saturday to claim fifth place.

Cremasco came on in goals after half time and didn’t concede a goal as WA came from a goal down to win. He was kept busy on the last line throughout the carnival, starting in three games.

WA lost 3-7 to ADF in their opening game before beating South Australia 4-2. Losses to NSW (5-0) and Victoria (2-1) compounded their campaign and then Queensland defeated them 5-2 to push WA into the fifth and sixth play-off.